It was chaos all around! Diego Lopes, who is supposed to fight Alexander Volkanovski at the main event for UFC 314, got into a verbal battle with Yair Rodriguez. The entire roster for the event seemed to be in shock as Lopes and ‘El Pantera’ kept hurling heated words at each other. Well, most didn’t really understand what they said, owing to the fact that the duo shouted in Spanish. But the emotions that they showed were pretty evident. They were overtaken with rage, but it also felt like it was a beef that was burning for a long, long time.
The MMA Poet tried to dissect the situation through an Instagram post, showing a picture of Rodriguez and Beltran posing together in one half, and Lopes facing off against Beltran in the other. And the caption seemed to give the fighting community the complete picture of the situation between ‘El Pantera’ and the #3 featherweight contender. Well, it was a time when Lopes was the featherweight champion at Lux Fight League, and had to defend his belt against Beltran, who was the bantamweight champion in the fight promotion. If we had to put a timeline on the event, the bout took place on 29 November 2019.
The caption read, “Marco is Yair’s teammate and he’s also a former UFC fighter. Marco wanted a 2nd belt, and to get a fight with Diego, he spoke out loud before-hand, verbally attacking him.” The fight ended with Lopes finishing Beltran off with a kneebar in the very first round. It was believed that the two buried the hatchet following the fight. But apparently, the fire still had a kindling. And that came in the form of Francesco ‘Baby Face’ Patron, one of Lopes’ students at the Brazilian Warriors.
Beltran was supposed to defend his bantamweight belt against Patron, but the fight had to be canceled twice. The first time, it was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But in the second schedule, Patron failed to make weight. It was an event that greatly enraged ‘Psycho’, and we went off on the Brazilian Warriors. Yes, the lashings were also unleashed on Lopes. Later on, at Budo’s 11th event, things went awfully wrong. MMA Poet claimed that it was a rumor from trusted sources when they claimed that Beltran’s team ambushed the Brazilian Warriors at a taco shop, but Lopes, Patron, and Alessandro Costa escaped.
The caption went on, “On fight-day, after the main event of Budo 11, @beltran_ufc alleges that 10 members from Diego’s team took the opportunity to attack him, he was reportedly badly injured after the incident.” Nevertheless, Beltran later defended his belt against Jose Roura, a Brazilian Warrior. And that was the moment where Rodriguez allegedly threatened a female fighter who trained with Lopes. However, following Beltran’s win over Roura, there aren’t any more instances of the clash between the two teams. That was until ‘El Pantera’ and Lopes got themselves tangled yet again.
The note from The MMA Poet ended with a disclaimer. It read, “None of this info has been 100% confirmed by either side, but it is known that Yair has always been close to Marco, and that this version of the story is the most widely circulated rumor that we’ve heard for several years here in Mexico.” Now, let’s get back to the pre-fight press conference for UFC 314 and take a look at the heated verbal exchange between Rodriguez and Lopes.
What did Yair Rodriguez and Diego Lopes say to each other at the UFC 314 pre-fight press conference?
As we know, Lopes is set to face ‘The Great’ at UFC 314, while Rodriguez will welcome Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire into the organization. But things went wrong after Lopes claimed that he was a proud Mexican. The duo hooked onto each other as ‘El Pantera’ branded Lopes as a coward in Spanish. He said, “You know why you are culón.” Then he claimed that he’d make the Mexican-Brazilian featherweight star pay for beating up Beltran after the #3 featherweight contender invited Rodriguez to say what he wanted to his face.
That’s when Lopes showed how furious he was with ‘El Pantera’ for hurling insults at his teammates. He remarked, “You threatened a female, and you’re going to pay for it! My team doesn’t forget! Watch your back!” But Rodriguez wasn’t done. As the security intervened, the #5 featherweight ranker said, “I know where you live. Don’t try to twist my words now. You also shouldn’t beat up one person with 10 men like you and your team did to Marco.”
The fighting community seemed to believe that the duo were set to clash in the Octagon, in the near future. But Lopes had already revealed his thoughts on this. Rodriguez is currently on a 2-fight losing streak, and both of the defeats came via 3rd-round finishes. And apparently, that wasn’t enough for Lopes, who’s on a 5-fight win streak, to give a chance to Rodriguez.
What are your thoughts on the beef between Rodriguez and Lopes? Do you think the two should settle their scores inside the MMA cage? Who do you think would win if the two did happen to fight? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.
The post Alleged Assault Involving 10v1 Situation Revealed As Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez’s Beef Takes a Dark Turn appeared first on EssentiallySports.
